"We need to rearrange things." the blue Phantomhive announced from the makeshift dugout that housed his team. "Kristopherson was supposed to be pitching, but I'm not sure if that's gonna work anymore."

"Why not?" questioned the wolfman with a look of genuine confusion on his face. "That wasn't Alois' position. Why change it?"

"Because Alois being on the other team gives them more of an edge and you're left handed." Ciel explained. "Your left hand lines up with his good eye. While he's healed, he's still getting used to his regained depth perception. That's why we need to throw the ball targeting his bad side. We can switch up later once we figure out how he's going to cheat and how to counter it."

"Wait, he's going to cheat?" Audrey questioned. "What the hell? He made that big deal about how beating you would be more fun and all that, but he's going to cheat? Doesn't that defeat the point of beating someone with your own strength?"

"Not to a Phantomhive, it doesn't." continued the team leader with a hand on his hip. "To us, being actually good at something is ideal, but being clever is just as, if not more important. It's sort of the whole point of the game. From that perspective, that is winning with his own power because he's relying on his own skills and know-how."

"You guys are fucking crazy..."

"Has it always been like this and I never noticed, or is this a new development?" Elizabeth questioned with a slightly amused, but tired look on her face. "I can't tell."

"It's how it's always been and how it always will be."

"Weird, old world nobility nonsense aside, let's focus on more recent rich person nonsense and figure this stuff out!" Suggested Daniel. "What are everyone's positions?"

"Audrey is pitching, Kistopherson is catching, I'm on first base, Daniel is on second, and Elizabeth will be close to the pitcher's mound in front while Seras will provide support from the rear." the Watchdog decreed. It wasn't a permanent fixture, but it was certainly something. This was going to take some trial and error to get right, but they had no other choice but to cope.

The Phantoms were taking the field first while the Lions were up to bat. With everyone rearing to go and the audience excited to finally start, the two teams lined up to shake hands before taking their positions. Daniel donned his protective gear along with the acting umpire, Lewis Knaggs. His gear had to actually be specially made to accommodate his size. While he was average for an ogre, for a human, not quite. He gave Daniel a light pat on the shoulder in acknowledgment while the Westley crouched down and got ready. He was unusually serious, but then again, so was everyone else. He could see the captain of the opposing team smirking from the Lions' dugout while the first person stepped up to bat.

It appeared to be "ladies first" with Amber Savage walking forward. "Savage" was a fitting name, with the look on her face. She had a scar over her right brow, short, red, hair, and a look on her face that said "murder". Daniel knew of her, since he knew the town more intimately than the rest of his team. Since the woman was a werewolf, she was going to be fast and slippery once she started running. He wanted to warn his team, but it was too late. The game had already started and they were too far away, now.

The woman stared intently at Audrey. More importantly, she stared at the ball in his hand. Then, her eyes darted toward her team's dugout and she watched Alois. The man in turn smiled and held up two fingers, prompting her to look over at Daniel. Blowing a bubble with the chewing gum in her mouth, she took her stance and got ready.

Audrey wound up the pitch and released the ball. In a flash, Amber hit it, sending it flying toward Daniel before she took off running. As quick as his brain registered it coming toward him, the Westley held out his glove to catch it, only to miss by a mile. He ran after it, picked it up, and prepared himself to throw the ball toward first base, he realised that the other team's first hitter was already there. With a deep frown and a light blush on his cheeks, he tilted the bill of his cap downward over his eyes and tossed the ball toward Audrey instead.

Next up to the plate was Baldassare, who was currently using a glamour spell to age himself up and be roughly the same height as the other players. As he took his position, he looked to Alois and saw him hold up two fingers. Reaching up, he repositioned his hat on his head before getting ready to swing. With the first pitch, he swore as he missed. The ball was caught by Elizabeth and the umpire tapped the vampire on the shoulder to remind him that there were children in the audience before giving him another shot.

"Strike one!" shouted Mister Knaggs while holding up a finger.

Getting back into position, Baldassare glared at Daniel. With the next pitch, he made a hit and sent the ball flying toward the Westley again. In a panicked frenzy, the poor man tried desperately to catch the ball as it hurdled toward him, only to miss it again. Now the Lions had a player on two bases and needed one more before one of them made it back to home base.

Ciel, who was watching intently, was putting the pieces together. Once was luck, twice was a coincidence, but three times was a pattern. Unfortunately, they didn't have another chance to spare if they wanted to keep the home team from scoring, so Ciel had to anticipate a pattern that made sense. Alois knew the players on the Phantoms' team. He also knew that out of everyone, Daniel was the least athletic. It would make sense for him to tell his team to aim the ball that way. So, before the next person could walk up to the plate, Ciel signalled a time-out so that he could talk to his team.

That action got the attention of his crew, which meant that he only needed to point at Elizabeth to get her to talk to him. The angel and demon met each other halfway and he told her what she needed to do.

"They're aiming for Daniel. Think you can help him out from your position?" he questioned, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder while speaking in a hushed tone.

"I most likely can." she nodded. "I'm worried about moving too fast for the umpire, though. If it's not within the limits, we might get a penalty."

"We won't know until we try." Ciel stated. "If it comes to that, I won't be mad. We'll have learned something from it."

"Got it."

With that, both players resumed their positions and the next person at the bat stepped forward. Logan Kendrick stepped forward and got ready. Looking toward Alois, he waited for the demon to decide where he should aim. The only thing was that Alois had suspected that Ciel had caught on and moved to counter him. Thus, he need to figure out where to tell Logan to aim next. He was too late, however, and their shared hesitance caused the incubus to swing too late.

"Strike one!" shouted the umpire, causing the incubus to get nervous.

He remembered, however, that Alois said that as a general rule, Daniel is the slowest and has the worst reflexes out of all of them. Thus, he decided it would be best if he aimed that way. He wasn't the only one with a plan, however. The man crouched behind him had an idea or two as well.

From where Kristopherson was standing, he could tell that if Logan got a hit, his boyfriend's team would get a point. If he failed, though, they would be able to both avoid that and get an out. Thus, the wolfman thought about what he could do and what he could get away with. Additionally, from where Kristopherson was standing, he was almost perfectly lined up with the man's tail. So, as Audrey wound up the pitch, the faux-blonde did the most logical thing he could think of. He blew on Logan's tail. With a startled jolt, Logan swung way too early.

"Strike two!" Mister Knaggs called out.

Quickly, Logan looked back at Kristopherson as if to catch him in the act, but it was far too late. Was it his imagination? Kristopherson seemed to indicate this.

"Relax, you'll be fine." the wolfman said. Taking a deep breath, the poor incubus seemed to believe him. While the incubus faced forward, Kristopherson's eye caught movement from the Lions' dugout as Alois kept waving to get Logan's attention. Occasionally, the menace would stop to point at his index finger, but the Kendrick couldn't see him.

Audrey threw the pitch and to Logan's surprise, he actually hit it. It was going in the direction he was aiming for and everything. Quickly, he began to run. He got halfway to first base before he heard the word he was dreading to hear.

"Out!" shouted the umpire, sparking his attention. His teammates were forced to return to the bases that they were stationed on before he ran and he was forced to return to the dug out. Looking over his shoulder, he was able to see Elizabeth throwing the ball to Audrey. Slouching, he sighed.

"Sorry, Alois..." he said to his captain upon his return. "I didn't know where to aim..."

"That's alright. There will be another chance, no problem." the menace declared while patting his teammate on the back. "Don't worry about it."

Logan had no time to explain his embarrassment at being the first out of the game to his captain, however, as the menace needed to leave the dugout quickly as not to hold up the game. With Alois stepping up to bat, he smiled and waved at the cheering crowd in a bright, friendly manner before getting his head back in the game. There was a stark contrast between the players and spectators at this moment. Everyone on the Phantoms' team knew that there was going to be a major problem.

All of them knew about how precise Alois' sixth sense was. He was garunteed to hit the ball. There was no question about it. Getting him "out" was an impossibility. What was even more troubling, however, was the knowledge that out of everyone on the Lions' team, Alois was also the most likely to get a home run. If that happened, he and all of his teammates would be able to make it to home base, awarding his team with no one, but three points in one turn. None of them knew what to do about it, either- Not even Ciel.

Narrowing his eye, the bluenette practically glared at his spouse as the blonde did his signature cat-like smirk he always did when he was up to no good. Before the menace got into position, however, he blew a kiss at the Watchdog. Without thinking, Ciel's hand twitched as he had to consciously restrain himself from pretending to catch it in the typical, disgustingly lovey-dovey way he usually did with the menace for the sake of maintaining a serious appearance. Perhaps more importantly, however, he just wanted to be petty and spite his husband. Yet, this was not lost on Alois, prompting him to laugh at the bluenette anyway.

Raising his bat and readying his swing, Alois waited for Audrey to throw the ball. When the reaper did, Alois appeared to suddenly be taking this seriously with his eye trained on the ball with precision. Yet, when the time came, he didn't swing. Instead, he moved the bat out of the ball's path and posed with it propped over his shoulders.

"Strike one!" the umpire called with a baffled look on his face. The same look of confusion was written on the catcher's face as he threw the ball back to Audrey.

"What the fuck is he doing?" Bones muttered to himself. "Quit being dramatic and hit the damn ball."

Tilting his head up, Alois called out to his friend. "You'll have to throw the ball with a firmer hand than that if you want me to take you seriously as a pitcher, Audrey~! You gotta really give it to me!"

A few people in the crowd caught onto Alois' double entendre and whooped and whistled. Now, Audrey Baines was a decent fellow and would normally take the joke in good spirits and rolled his eyes, but in front of all of these people? That was different. His cheeks immediately heated up and he wrinkled his nose.

"Shut up!" the reaper shouted back. "Quit messing with me and just hit the ball!"

"Then show me you mean it!"

Without another word, Audrey threw the ball as hard as he possibly could. He almost lost balance as he moved forward, but his target was undeterred. All Alois did was place the bat in the ball's path. He didn't swing it. He just let Audrey's force bounce it off the instrument before he tossed it to the side and started running. All the while, he laughed while his team switched bases and became one move closer to scoring a point. The only part he struggled with was slowing down enough as to not run into his spouse once he reached first base.

Alois had got the upper hand yet again. Sticking his fingers underneath his cap, Ciel pulled at his hair in exasperation while his husband approached. The blonde's laughter didn't help.

"Aw, don't be upset, baby." he said while reaching up to cup Ciel's cheek. "You'll get a chance to score later."

"Jim, for fuck's sake..." Ciel sighed, prompting the other to start up his giggles again. He absolutely loved it when his husband swore. It was a completely accurate indicator that he was successful in getting underneath the Watchdog's skin.

"What? I'm just playing! It's a friendly game of baseball, not something to worry about!" the menace scoffed before getting in a good position to start running. Naturally, this involved bending over slightly in front of the other as further provocation.

"I'm not going to look at your rear, Jim." Ciel insisted, choosing instead to watch the next person exiting the dugout.

"Why would you be staring at my ass? You're supposed to be paying attention to the game!" the menace chastised while holding up his index finger to the batter's view. "I mean, I may have checked you out a couple times by now, but I was in the dugout, so that's different."

"Jim!"

As Ciel turned his head, the sound of the ball hitting the metal bat rang out and Alois started running. Jim was right, baseball trousers made ones, hips, legs, and rear-end quite prominent. It took a second before he remembered where he was however and when he did, he was angry.

"Ciel! What the fuck?!" Audrey cried out while throwing his hands in the air. They eventually landed on his head while the Watchdog picked up the ball from the ground and threw it toward Daniel, who was too focused on the fact that Ciel missed to catch it himself. In the process, Amber Savage made it to home base and the Lions scored their first point.

The Phantoms were fuming. Eventually, they managed to get three outs and trade places with the Lions, but it came at a great expense to their dignity. No one, however, was affected more than Ciel.

Oh, the humiliation he had suffered! Not only had the menace been able to rack up a decent amount of points, he had also personally sought after the bluenette in a way that was most embarrassing. He wondered how many people in the audience actually noticed how he floundered and fumbled whenever Alois got close to him. Damn him! No matter how hard Ciel tried to resist the menace, Alois knew exactly how to draw him back in. What was worse was the knowledge that it was blatant manipulation. Ciel was being toyed with and he knew it. All of it was just so Alois could win, he knew, but the Watchdog couldn't help but still be hopeful deep down. He needed to crush that hope and fast if he wanted to get anywhere.

"Any ideas?" questioned Daniel as he slouched on the bench next to everyone else. While he wasn't confident that he personally could do much to help them win, he was hoping that Ciel had something up his sleeve, regardless.

"Maybe..." the Watchdog stated. "Unfortunately, I didn't know we were going to be cheating, so I'm sort of doing this off the cuff."

"Let's hear it." said Audrey. "Can't be that bad."

"Hmmm… Kristopherson, flirt with Logan when you have the chance. And that thing you did with his tail? Do that again next time we're not up to bat." the bluenette began.

"Oh, you saw that?" the wolfman questioned, but he was sort of brushed off while his captain continued.

"Lizzie and Seras? Hit as many homeruns as possible." the Watchdog instructed before turning to face them. "But, if you get on a base and are stuck there, watch out for second."

"Why's that?" Seras inquired with a tilt of her head. "Babyface isn't scary at all!"

"Yes, but he's annoying. I'm sorry to say this, but whatever disgusting, sexist dribble he comes out with- and he will; focus on the game and do not take a swing at him. If he do, you won't be able to bat for the rest of the round."

"Understood." nodded Elizabeth. "We're soldiers. We've dealt with our fair share of pigs." Both she and Seras were enthusiastic about being able to hit this time. This is where they would finally be able to score the team a lot of points. Both were determined to do that until the umpire told them that it was no longer fair.

"Audrey, tune out anything Jim says." the bluenette continued, earning a disgruntled huff.

"That bastard..." grumbled the reaper while folding his arms. "How the hell does he do that? He knows exactly how to get at us! It's not fair… He knows all of our strengths and weaknesses, but we don't know any of his team's!"

Pausing, Ciel turned his head and looked out at the field. Scanning the area, he took note of everyone's positions. Logan was catching, Amber was in the field near the back, the bluenette didn't recognise the person near the pitcher's mound, Tegwen was pitching, Baldassare was on second, some incubus that Ciel didn't recognise was on third, and finally, goddammit, Alois was on first. That was odd. As good as Alois was at planning and strategy, his own placement made no sense whatsoever. What possible use could he be there? With his speed and precision, he should be toward the back where most of the balls will be going. The more he thought about it, however, the more it made sense. Alois' team did have weaknesses.

"On second thought, Audrey, maybe you should listen to Jim." the Phantomhive recanted. Turning around, he seemed a bit more chipper than he was before. "I think I may have a plan."


A/N: Good God, this is a mess... Unfortunately, I'm not very good at sports strategy, so this is difficult. Fun, but difficult. Probably gonna have to look at the Cricket match from the manga as reference pffffttt!

But yeah, these two are petty. There's so much pettiness here. What the fuck, you guys? Calm down...

What else... what else...

Oh! I'm still looking for name ideas for Anastasia's baby, so if you have a good one, please tell me~!

Other than that, I dunno what to talk about. I really need to go to bed, but what else is new?

I'm still not really sure who all is on the Lions' team... I need ONE more character, but I don't know who? Part of me thinks I should come up with some filler character, but the ONE time I have something that calls for one, I can't pick?

Guys, I come up with characters all the time. It's a curse. I can't use them all. They're mostly worthless. Someone take them from me.

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!